Rams Remain Cautious with Centeio in Run Game

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Steve Addazio is in no mood to press his luck. Not with the way the season is going.

Colorado State has been beset with a rash of injuries, and not just as of late. They lost Linwood Crump, a projected starter at corner, before the season started. Same with quarterback Matt Valecce. Dante Wright missed basically half of the season, two offensive line starters are now watching from the sideline and a host of others have popped in and out of the lineup.

So the head coach is in no mood to take too many chances with starting quarterback Todd Centeio.

Part of his game is his ability to run, which makes him an added threat in the backfield, especially the run-pass options plays on the call sheet. He was productive with those last week, finishing as the team's leading rusher with 55 yards and a touchdown, and he's the Rams' second-leading rusher for the season with 430, losing nearly 100 yards to sacks.

The Rams like those plays, but they also aren't in a rush to call them, either.

"It's a piece of what we do. You've got to be a little careful with this stuff right now," Addazio said. "We've got one veteran player here. We have a freshman (backup Evan Olaes), who I like, but he's a freshman. Would we have run more of these types of things if we had more depth there, if we had not had Matt tear his ACL? Yeah, probably. We do it, but how much do we do it? We don't do it a ton. He's taking shots. He took some shots in (the Air Force) game."

Knowing their quarterback the way they do, Addazio and offensive coordinator Jon Budmayr shy away from that particular portion of the play sheet, unless they think it's absolutely necessary. It would be one thing if they knew their quarterback was going to play it safe. But Centeio is looking for every yard the offense can get, even if that means pulling the handout from the belly of the back and heading up field.

Then again, it's not in his nature for a player to consider ramifications. Those are questions for the coaching staff to ponder.

"Well, normal read plays, they're not difficult to read," he said. "I'm gonna keep it. I'm going to play it like it's my last game. I'm gonna pull it, and if I get hurt – God forbid – then Evan's got to go in and handle his business, and I know he will. I just play it like it's the last play."

And he knows that's probably why they don't call it as much, though he does average 10 carries per game. They also know he loves the game, and because he nearly lost his chance to play – and live – with a bout of lupus earlier in life, he doesn't worry about taking a big shot.

Which he has, basically every week.

"Hey, I almost lost football, so I'm going to play it like it's my last game," he said.

Ideally, the Rams would prefer to move the ball in a more traditional fashion, and Hawaii's defense has been suspect this year, ranking 104^th in scoring defense by allowing 31.7 points per game. Teams have run on them to the tune of 162.6 yards per game, and their pass defense is allowing 277.5. Centeio can do that, too.

What he'll be looking to do this week is take care of the ball better, having thrown a pair of interceptions in each of the past two games after tossing just two in the games prior. He is completing better than 60 percent of his passes, good for 2,246 yards and 10 touchdowns.

A good passing attack balanced by a traditional run game sounds pretty good right about now. And when Centeio runs, they hope he finds space. And a soft landing spot.

"I don't need to add that into the mix right now," Addazio said. "Stuff happens, who knows. You don't need to increase your odds."

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